1942 CA Foghetecaz

After the break from football due to the Spanish Civil War and the disappearance of Club Deportivo Villarreal, the city didn’t have a team to represent them in provincial and regional competitions for some years. Despite that, football never stopped being played in Vila-real as youth championships were disputed between the different Fan Clubs (peñas), mainly at El Madrigal field which was acquired by the city council in 1942.

One of these groups created the ‘Club Atlético Foghetecaz:’, their name corresponding to the surname initials of its founders: FO (Font), G (Gil), HE (Herrero), TE (Teuler), CA (Catalá) y Z (Zaragoza). The two points (colon) at the end of the name were attributed to Manuel Vilanova (father of the Mayor, Manuel Vilanova Goterris) and to Manuel de Jeroni. Curiously they used an ‘etc.’ to refer to the other founding members.

1946 CAF Villarreal

After thinking and debating about the matter, in a very even-sided meeting when it came to voting, the group finally decided to affiliate the team in 1946 and take part in official competitions organized by the Valencian Federation (la Federación Valenciana). The new club would keep the ‘CA Foghetecaz:’ initials in the name and use the name of the city as a representative symbol; and so ‘CAF Villarreal’ was born.

According to Manolo Vilanova, father of the Mayor of Vila-real between 1995-2007, who was in charge of the kit in Valencia, he initially looked to continue with the same attire as CD Villarreal but, faced with the lack of white shirts, opted for yellow, that was also in fashion at the time, and the black shorts that conformed to tradition.

The history of ‘C. A. Foghetecaz:’ was as brilliant as its name was strange, until Pepe Ten, historic sports journalist for the daily newspaper the ‘Mediterráneo’, nicknamed them “the Czech team”.

The beginnings were not at all easy for the club, which was founded around the Granja Bar in the Plaça de la Vila (Vila square), who had to play in four different Groups (I, IV and VI) in the Second Regional Division (Segunda Regional), but it wasn’t long before the accolades started arriving.

In their fourth year, CAF Villarreal were champions of the Regional Fans Division (Regional de Aficionados) and were promoted to the First Regional Division (Primera Regional) in 1950/51, they also got to the Semi-finals of the Spanish Fans Championship (España de Aficionados) after knocking out FC Barcelona, among others.

There are many important people from this period, but the most significant were the Presidents Lorenzo Cardá Corbató, who was the founder of the club federation, Juan Vilar Llopis, Pascual Batalla Gil and Secretary José Ramos Nebot. One of the most representative figures was the versatile Bautista Monzonís ‘Bufaga’, who was a player, referee, coach, delegate and talent scout who also began the planting of the grass pitch at El Madrigal.

The team’s brilliant career culminated with eliminating FC Barcelona from the Fans Championship, which sparked euphoria in the local football world. This way, at the end of May 1952 the founding Directors, known as the “poor ones” (“dels pobres”), handed over the reins of the club to those members with a higher economic status, forming the “rich ones” (“dels rics”), new Directors who planned a sporting future with ambitious projects.